Hardliner romps home in Iran

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A hardline fundamentalist who vows to roll back reforms in Iran
has won a landslide victory in the first presidential run-off
election in the Islamic republic's 26 years.

Early reports said the Mayor of Tehran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had
been declared the winner by the Interior Ministry after securing
more than 60 per cent of the vote. Supporters of his more moderate
opponent, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, conceded the loss.

With more than half the votes tallied, Mr Ahmadinejad was
leading Mr Rafsanjani by 24 percentage points, a ministry official
said. The turnout appeared to be about 23 million of 47 million
eligible voters.

Voting ended late on Friday amid charges of irregularities and
open conflict between officials of the Interior Ministry and the
cleric-dominated Guardian Council as they jostled for control of
polling places.

Voters faced a stark choice that underscored deep divisions in
Iranian society - between rich and poor, young and old, moderate
and conservative - and the outcome is likely to have serious
domestic and international significance.

The US State Department said yesterday that Iran was "out of
step" with a trend towards freedom and liberty in its region.

Analysts and diplomats said Iran's dramatic shift to the right
spelt trouble for already tense nuclear negotiations, with the
Islamic regime now expected to take a far more aggressive stance
over its ambition to possess sensitive enrichment technology.

Many analysts had thought a large turnout would improve
twice-president Rafsanjani's chances of victory.

Mr Rafsanjani, 70, a long-time conservative cleric, had
repositioned himself as a pragmatist who would continue the gradual
liberalisation of society started by the outgoing president,
Mohammad Khatami. He had proposed privatisation of state-owned
enterprises and hinted at rapprochement with the US.

Mr Ahmadinejad, 49, who as mayor of Tehran tried to roll back
some of Mr Khatami's reforms, called for eliminating the growing
gap between rich and poor, repeal of unspecified "weak" or
un-Islamic reforms and a restoration of the original spirit of the
revolution that overthrew the Shah of Iran in 1979. He has strong
paramilitary and radical Islamic support.

Many young people who voted on Friday said they had not voted in
the first round. "We didn't believe in any of them, but now we have
to choose," explained Roshanak, 28. "I am not aware of the
political situation, but I know the situation with dressing and
simple freedoms. With Mr Ahmadinejad, it will get much worse."

Elnas Ashtari, 23, whose fashionably streaked hair spilled out
of the head scarf all Iranian women must wear, said she did not
vote last week but had been convinced by the run-off campaign to
vote for Mr Ahmadinejad because of his opposition to corruption and
economic inequity. The Rafsanjani forces had "made a fuss" about Mr
Ahmadinejad's fundamentalism, she said, but failed to convince her
that she had anything to fear from him.

· Indonesian radical Islamists yesterday cheered the Iran
result. "I'm glad and happy," said Irfan Awwas, a leader of Majelis
Mujahideen Indonesia, whose founder, Abu Bakar Bashir, is in jail
for his role in the 2002 Bali bombings. Komaruddin Hidayat, an
Islamic scholar, said: "America attacked Iraq based on false
reasoning . . . This has given conservatives the chance to gain
power in some Islamic countries."